Hussain Lawai removed as PSX chairman

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According to a notification, SECP has directed the Pakistan Stock Exchange to remove Hussain Lawai from the chairmanship of the Exchange and appoint a new chairman of the Board.

On Friday Lawai was arrested by the FIA in connection with alleged money laundering worth billions of rupees. The investigation agency is probing a potential laundering scandal of Rs35 billion implicating a top political leader along with his businessman and banker friends.

However, on Saturday remanded Hussain Lawai, a close aide of former president Asif Ali Zardari, in the custody of the Federal Investigation Agency in a money-laundering probe till July 11.

The probe was launched after the Financial Monitoring Unit of the State Bank of Pakistan generated a Suspicious Transaction Report in January this year about 10 bank accounts.

FIA officials say that 32 people, including Lawai, are being investigated for laundering billions of rupees through ‘benami’ accounts.

According to sources, over 20 ‘benami’ accounts at a private bank were allegedly opened in 2013, 2014 and 2015 from where transactions worth billions of rupees were made in the accounts. The amount, according to FIA sources, is said to be black money gathered from various kickbacks, commissions and bribes.